‘Razkrinkavanje’: Debunking Misinformation While Training Journalists in Slovenia
Razkrinkavanje.si, a fact-checking project founded by OCCRP member center Oštro, has published over 200 fact-checks since 2019 with the help of a team of young journalists.
In Slovenia, a country with barely more than 2 million people, news can spread fast. And, as in many other parts of the world, widely shared information is not always accurate.
In April 2020, Slovenia’s state-run emergency services agency published an alert on its website claiming that a fire near the town of Grosuplje had been started by migrants, a group that has repeatedly faced harsh rhetoric from the country’s current government.
The claim originated from a government source, the Intervention and Accident Reporting System (SPIN), and was amplified by at least one news outlet, making it a natural choice for Razkrinkavanje to fact-check.
Razkrinkavanje contacted local authorities, who confirmed that officials had not yet determined the cause of the fire. Moreover, it found that the government agency that oversees SPIN told reporters that it does not collect or publicize information related to the potential cause of fires. Why SPIN decided to do so in this case remains unclear.
Razkrinkavanje’s verdict? Lažna objava, or “fake news.”
Razkrinkavanje was founded in 2019 by Oštro, an OCCRP member center. Since then, it has published over 200 fact-checks on Oštro.si. But unlike its parent organization’s investigations, Razkrinkavanje’s fact-checks are led by a small team of young local journalists, most of whom are students.
“We set it up as a sort of investigative journalism incubator. When we take in students, or other young journalists, they go to the fact-checking project first,” said Anuška Delić, Razkrinkavanje’s editor in chief, who signs off on fact-checks before they are published.
The approach has so far produced zero errors, a track record Delić credits to a rigorous editorial process she established at the outset. Razkrinkavanje journalists are required to provide comprehensive footnotes and seek comment from key players mentioned in the piece.
“Until the fact check is watertight, it’s not going out,” says Delić. “That means the process can take a few weeks. That’s not ideal, but I don’t know how else to stay true to our principles.”
Late last year, Razkrinkavanje became Slovenia’s first “verified signatory” to the “Code of Principles” set out by the International Fact-Checking Network — an initiative by the U.S. media non-profit Poynter Institute to establish a globally recognized standard for fact-checking platforms — after an evaluator determined that it’s “fact-checks rely on the highest principles of journalism ethics.”
Razkrinkavanje’s Process
In addition to checking statements from Slovenian public officials, Razkrinkavanje combs over articles published by national media outlets, which sometimes have poor editorial standards.
But one of its most popular fact-checks examined an article from an international outlet, Politico Europe, which claimed that the Slovenian government had only ordered 26,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, when it could have secured as many as 600,000.
After speaking with the Ministry of Health, a fact-checker learned that the figure of 26,000 vaccines referred only to Moderna’s initial shipment in the first two months of 2021. In reality, Slovenia had secured 369,767 vaccines through an agreement with the European Commission. (The news came out before the recent controversy over the bloc’s contract for AstraZeneca vaccines.)
Razkrinkavanje rated Politico Europe’s claim as “ne drži” or “not true,” a ruling reserved for false information put forward within a larger statement or article that is otherwise true. Politico later published a correction and removed the line in question.
Razkrinkavanje has a number of ratings, some of which play on Slovenian idioms, to fully characterize the degree and character of a particular inaccuracy. Here’s what each mean:
Lažna objava: Disinformation or “fake news.”
Manipulacija: Accurate information that is presented in a misleading manner.
Psevdoznanost: False scientific or historical claims often promoted under a veneer of expertise.
Neutemeljeno: Claims backed up with inaccurate or inexact sources.
Pristransko: Claims made with political bias.
Propaganda: Claims that promote a political agenda.
Šlamparija: A colloquial term for shoddy work, this label is applied to small mistakes that appear to have been unintentional.
Kitenje s tujim perjem: Literally, “adorning oneself with other people’s feathers,” this refers to the use of photos, video, or other media that don’t reflect the claims of the text.
Satira: An inaccurate statement made in satire.
Prikrito oglaševanje: A claim that appears to be an undisclosed commercial advertisement, including sponsored content.
Klik vaba: Clickbait and unnecessarily sensational framing.
Drži: Claims that appear to be true.
Siva cona: A claim that cannot be safely deemed correct or incorrect.
Ne drži: Misinformation and other inaccurate information that does not appear to have been given on purpose.
A claim can be assigned multiple ratings. For example, Razkrinkavanje gave a rating of “ne drži” to an article claiming that prayer heals the sick and that swearing is harmful to one’s health. The article was also an unmarked piece of sponsored content, qualifying it for a “prikrito oglaševanje” label as well.
Where To Next?
Delić plans on maintaining the platform’s strict editorial process and focus on debunking misinformation.
But her ultimate goal for the site might seem counterintuitive: It’s to separate Razkrinkavanje from Oštro. This will bolster Razkrinkavanje’s reputation as a truly independent verification source, beholden to no interests — not even Oštro’s.
“Ethical considerations, especially because of low public trust in media and journalism as a profession, are very important to Oštro. Thus, there has always been just one road for Razkrinkavanje — full editorial independence.”
Of course, the newly independent Razkrinkavanje will need a new editor in chief — and Delić has been training her for two years. Delić says she couldn’t be happier at the prospect of being replaced one day.
